(1) Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the repair of worn gears on agricultural machinery and the making of replacements of worn gears for agricultural machinery.
(2) Description of the Related Art
In agricultural machinery, machine parts are made to use rotating hexagonal shafts. To rotate these hexagonal shafts, gears having hexagonal holes therethrough are press fitted upon the shafts. A typical example of an arrangement of this type involves cotton strippers with two rollers operating on either side of the cotton stalk. These rollers rotate in opposite direction so that the cotton bolls may be stripped from the cotton stalk. These rollers have brushes and bars. To effectively strip the cotton the from the stalk, the brushes and bars are timed so that they exactly meet as they rotate. The rollers as stated before, are mounted upon hexagonal shafts which are driven by gears having hexagonal holes. The gears are pressed upon the shaft. However, through wear and particularly through dust and dirty conditions in which these are located, the gears tend to wear at the hexagonal hole in the hub. Normally the gear is of a hard steel construction whereas the hub is a separate member which has softer metal. If the hub becomes loose, it quickly wallows out and wears quickly so that it is loose upon the shaft and no longer maintains the brushes and gears in exact alignment. Also, of course, as soon as it becomes loose, this is inductive to other wear and particularly upon the gear teeth themselves.
Also often when the hub begins to wear it will damage the shaft so that not only must the gear be replaced but also the shaft.
The prior art discloses clamps or locks to clamp sheaves pulleys upon primarily round shafts, inasmuch as round shafts are more common in machine elements.
Before this application was filed the inventors were aware of the following U.S. patents:
______________________________________ DIESCHER 631,957 FENLASON 668,307 SIMMONS 769,414 KEMPHERT ET AL 2,269,821 DUDA 2,287,343 ENTERS 4,016,770 ______________________________________
DIESCHER discloses a split hub in FIGS. 1 and 2. The hub is integral with the pulley. A cylindrical or helical gripping member is located between the hub and the circular shaft. In other embodiments, not only is the hub split but so is the pulley itself.
FENLASON discloses a pulley wherein U-bolts are used to clamp the parts to the circular shaft.
SIMMONS discloses a split pulley clamped to a round shaft by bolts.
KEMPHERT ET AL discloses a sheave to fit a circular shaft which has a key-way therein. The hub itself is separate from the sheave and is attached thereto by bolting and a taper. The entire length of the hub is slit.
DUDA discloses a gear for a circular shaft wherein the hub is integral with the gear. The hub is split but the gear is not.
ENTERS shows a clamp to attach a fabricated pulley or sheave to a round shaft having a key. It is particularly adapted for a sheave fabricated from stamped sheet metal.